Updating link or relinking images unexpectedly resize

Question

My co-worker and I are experinceing the same problem in CS4 Indesign. For example, we have a document that uses a link (PDF, Tiff, eps) and produce a proof for our customer.  Then they will send us a replacement link that is exactly the same file type and dementions/res.  We update the link and it will scale down ruffly 2% - 5% in the frame unexpectedly.
     This problem has now cost our company $15,000 in ruined projects.  My boss wants us to fix this problem but I think it's a bug because CS3 never had this problem. Finding a resized image in a 600 page document is a very long process and very costly if missed.
     I found this thread that said CS2 had this same problem.
http://kb2.adobe.com/cps/330/330428.html
     We are using the latest version of CS4 with all the updates, Dual 2 Ghz PowerPC G5's with 3.5 GB Ram, running 10.4.11
Can someone please help us.
Thanks,
Jay

Answer 1

hi. we've encountered this problem at our agency as well. Working on Macintosh, InDesign CS4 (6.0.4). Recently, we've been working on a large annual report project, one with 100 or so placed Illustrator charts/graphs (all EPS files). All of them placed into boxes with identical width/height (3.5" x 2.5"). All placed in said boxes at 100%. The individual Illustrator files themselves are all based on an original of similar dimensions.
As the project moved along we received occasional changes to wording or numeric values in many of the charts. Usually, it's simple enough to update the charts in Illustrator, update them in InDesign, and continue working on something else. What we found, however, was that the updated charts were resizing by small increments - 100% would suddenly become 100.0834759%, say. Very random and more than a little concerning when working with so many linked images, any of which cut have portions of type/numbers cut off or missing as a result of the resize.
It took me some time to find the right way to search to see if others had experienced this problem, but eventually I found this particular thread. I did follow the suggestion posted to turn off Indesign's preference to 'Preserve Image Dimensions When Relinking'. I was actually able to recreate the problem - I tested a couple of versions of the same Illustrator graph (one saved as a CS4 EPS, one saved as CS3 EPS), placing each into a picture box in InDesign, altering them slightly, updating them... What i found was if the InDesign preference 'Preserve Image Dimensions When Relinking' was turned on, updated links would scale randomly as mentioned above. Turn the preference off, and everything updated normally.
The project is nearly complete, and we've compensated for the weird issue by working with the file handling preference turned off. However, our InDesign files our now in the hands of the printer, and any additional changes to this annual report happen on THEIR end - as a result, we've had to be extra mindful and make sure we check and double check updated links when we receive proofs/files back from them. we've already noticed a couple of instances where the issue has happened in their file as well.
I have to admit that I am suprised that this issue hasn't affected more InDesign users. It was mentioned on this thread that there was a similar issue way back in InDesign CS2, so obviously we'll keep an on things and hope for a patch or the next update. If anyone else can offer more advice/input, that would be greatly appreciated.
thanks